Blanus

Blanus, also known as worm lizards, are a genus of amphisbaenians found in the Mediterranean region of Europe and North Africa. Like other amphisbaenians, Blanus species are specialized for a subterranean existence, with long, slender bodies, reduced limbs, and rudimentary eyes. Their skulls are powerfully constructed, allowing them to push through soil to create a burrow. Their jaws are well-developed, with large, recurved teeth and a pair of canine-like teeth in the upper jaw.

Blanus

Mario modesto · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AmphisbaenidaePBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Amphisbaenidae
Life habit
fossorialPBDB, for Amphisbaenidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amphisbaenia

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 2 of 38 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 38 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 21 of 38 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 38 occurrencesPleistocene — about 9 of 38 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences37.71 Mya129 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

38 occurrences of Blanus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

38 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Córcoles — 40.47°N, 2.68°WPerfugas — 40.72°N, 9.10°EWiesbaden — 50.04°N, 8.27°EMost — 50.42°N, 13.36°EQuercy Phosphorites — 44.27°N, 1.63°EGebeceler — 38.77°N, 30.74°EAshley — 32.83°N, 79.99°WDetritic-Carbonated Unit of Subirats — 41.42°N, 1.81°E

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The named rock units Blanus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 29 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Blanus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Blanus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

670 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 33 sites for Blanus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

28 references

Each of the 38 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 16 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Blanus

Credit
Mario modesto
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Blanus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAmphisbaenidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagler 1830